The Lykosfosians
by BlazeTheFierce
Summary: Set between Odysseus's crew's encounter with Scylla and Charybdis, and their landing on the island of Helios, the crew encounters the Lykosfosians, a tribe of cannibals and is faced with the dangers it provides. This was written as an assignment for English class but I decided to post it.


"There we stood, grief stricken, full of dismay.

My men and I were frozen with pain, with distress.

Circe had spoken true. I could not save every

single one of them through any means possible. Six men

snatched then scarfed down by ravenous Scylla.

No way to fight the beast, no way to evade it,

no other way to go and no way for me to save them.

Once the shock had lessened, I broke the silence.

'Men' I softly said over the sound of gentle waves.

'Night will soon fall fast and we should dock our ship

near land tonight.' The men were quiet and solemn.

I sighed and like a gentle breeze quietly quakes

a tree's shimmering leaves, so I quietly spoke again

while the men's lips trembled quavering whispers.

'Tonight, with such heavy hearts, sailing would be troublesome.

We should rest to calm our minds. Circe

spoke of an island lovely but only at day,

where you must leave by night or sleep in a ship.

I think it best that we dock the ship there overnight.'

Some men nodded, some were reluctant to break

forlorn gazes, very few looked at me when I spoke

and all but Theocydes slowly took to rowing.

Looking over the starboard, Theocydes stared

with lonesome and misty eyes. A single tear

trickled down his face. It tore at my heart

to see him this way. He had always been so lively,

like most of the other crewmembers, before we took

this accursed, long and painful journey.

'He was my brother." Theocydes muttered

without breaking his gaze from the distant horizon.

I thought he must have been speaking to himself,

until he looked at me momentarily

just as miserable as before. I was at a peculiar loss

of words. Should I speak with him or not?

Knowing it may either calm or agitate him,

I waited, speechless, it was best to avoid

any extreme. I spoke not a single word

to him, hoping his heartache would soon pass.

He lifted his sword and forcefully threw it

into the waves with a tremendous splash. The salt water

didn't faze him, though I was repulsed

by the awful taste. 'It couldn't save him,"

he said. 'and it can't save me.' He glanced

at the water droplets left on his arm.

'I'm sorry," I told him gently with care.

'No," he replied strongly. "you needn't be,

there was nothing anyone but the gods themselves

could have done to save them.' He forced out a short smile

but failed miserably.

'I'm sorry," I told him gently with care.

'No," he replied strongly. "you needn't be,

there was nothing anyone but the gods themselves

could have done to save them.' He forced out a short smile

but failed miserably. He still looked like a dog

that had lost its master, its only stable companion,

to be left without a purpose. Deep in thought,

I stood as blue-eyed Theocydes

watched me with a watery gaze.

Suddenly a man

called out that he had sighted land far ahead.

I went to the bow to catch a glimpse of the distant shore.

It took only a short time to find

the distant island. Its black sand matched the water's color

seamlessly making the trees seem to grow from the sea.

The island's trees were fiery red

and the sand darker than a starless night.

Intrigued, I stood at the bow as I told my men

to row to shore. As a bird craves bread the more crumbs it finds,

so I craved absolute knowledge of this place

with each little bit of information. The closer we got,

the more details I could make out. The types of fruits and berries

were not of a kind I've ever seen or even heard of before.

We were soon close to the dark shoreline

but in the shadow of the boat, it was hard

to determine where the shore really was.

Luckily the water was reflective enough

that we could have a sense of it.

The boat slid against the sand effortlessly,

so it took some time to get it settled enough

to tie it to a magnificently thick tree. I swung

off the boat eagerly as did a few others,

but many were very tired of this voyage

and slowly came down to shore.

The sand was fluffy and soft

as if it were often overturned.

Many of us moved around the black sand with our feet,

amazed by the texture. I reached down,

scooped up the sand and sifted it through my rough hands.

There was a single hard and yellowish object

remaining once the black sand had all fallen.

I moved it around curiously until I realized

it was a human tooth only slightly more jagged.

I held it briefly, realizing the lingering presence

of other humans, before releasing it down

to the earth from whence it came. 'Remember, to return to the ship

by night fall.' I told them. ' We've made it this far.

There's no room for mistakes so we should take Circe's advice.

For now, if there are indeed people,

for this tooth may be the work of a ship wreck,

we should figure out what the people here are like-

violent, savage, lawless or perhaps they are friendly

to strangers and god-fearing men.'

We soon traveled through the twisting forest.

Slashing the tree trunks as we went, we hoped

we wouldn't become lost. It didn't take long

to find the inhabitants, sitting around feasting

but without any meat in sight. They seemed

to eat only uncooked leaves and roots and live

in simple wood houses. As soon as they saw us,

they beckoned us to feast with them and welcomed us warmly.

I searched my surroundings with interest

and realized their uniformly light gray eyes.

Every person's eyes were the exactly same color.

After all I'd been through and the use of food against us,

I was cautious to allow my men to join them.

'If you promise that you mean us no harm

in eating with you,' I spoke to them. 'Then we will join you.'

The most ornately clad one of them spoke to me.

'Of course we wouldn't dare harm you with our feast. I promise

on behalf of my people.' We decided

to eat with them. The foods were odd in taste,

unable to be described through similarity

to any other foods but were still wonderful.

Once we had put aside desire

for food and drink, they could finally begin asking us

about our homeland. Their king described himself as Dares,

king of the Lykosfosians, one of the last

of their race. I explained

the trip past Charybdis and Scylla. They were

clueless even though it was a short sail away at most.

The remaining hours of the daylight

were uneventful and consisted

of simple conversation, but over time they took

a foul turn towards us. As daylight's red fingers cling

to the sky as it is enveloped by the night,

so the Lykosfosians' previously good nature

became smothered by an underlying dark intent.

As sunset came, they paced anxiously and snapped

at my men and I when any one of us spoke

a single word. Their gray eyes grew red with the twilight's rays

and the trees appeared blood red in the darkening light.

It was only now I realized the scratches

and bite marks on their bodies. It was odd indeed.

There wasn't a reason for such peaceful people

to have these kinds of wounds, coarse with scabbing.

'Odysseus,' Theocydes whispered.

'I'm getting very tired.' He yawned

and some other men nodded and rubbed their eyes.

'It's getting dark and the ship's uncomfortable.

Could we-' 'No,' I replied. 'I'm not risking it. I'd think

that you would agree, Theocydes,

we don't need to risk more lives. If you grow tired,

then back to the boat with you.'

I walked

on the path of vegetation that we'd cut down,

and back towards the ship while my men slowly sauntered

behind me. When I reached the ship, all of the men

were accounted for but all grew tired of the hard boat's wood.

I had my comrades go aboard the ship first.

Theocydes sat in the sand, to rest his aching feet,

while we waited for the previous men

to board the ship. His head slowly hung lower and lower

until he laid limply on the soft sand, fast asleep.

I decided to leave him sleeping

on the shore. Close enough, I thought. Climbing up the ship,

I looked down at him in his deep sleep. I sat

down on the ship, groggy from the feast

and the tiresome day. I sat for a short while

in the stubborn sun's faltering rays,

thinking about our odd encounter.

Even on the boat's abrasive and weathered wood,

I was quickly overcome with sleep.

When I awoke, it had grown much colder

and many of the men had left the ship

for the soft beach. A few men laid in the sand.

Where Theocydes had slept, there was nothing

but marks in the sand as if something had been dragged along.

Stepping carefully over sleeping men,

I looked around to see if any others were missing.

I counted four, including Theocydes,

gone with only gouges in the dark sediment

to show they were ever even there.

Awaking two men, I had them grab their swords

and walk with me. Following the tracks,

I was unsure of what may come. We hiked

deep into the forest but it took

only a short time to find the men.

Catching sight of my comrades, I was taken aback.

The four missing men were tied tightly to sandstone slabs.

The men's wrists and ankles were painfully chafed

to the point of bleeding from writhing

against the rough ropes. We darted behind gnarly tree trunks

and I hushed my men. I observed the area

and noticed that Theocydes had not struggled at all.

He waited patiently as if he had come to accept

his horrid fate or no longer cared to live.

I felt a pang of remorse for the death of his brother.

My eyes then wandered regretfully to rancid corpses

tied to the trees next to him. The cadavers

suffered lacerations and what seemed to be bite marks.

The brutish Lykosfosians were

in a state of extreme discord. They hissed and snarled

at each other, often partaking in physical fights

for their own pleasure. They taunted my men

and pulled on their tight ropes ruthlessly.

Then a few began to gnaw hungrily

on ill fortuned Theocydes' left arm.

He thrashed and hurled meaningless threats at the beasts.

At this, the two men I brought along

could no longer take it and blindly ran

out in the open, swords drawn.

A few of the Lykosfosians noticed the men

and charged at them viciously, knocking one

of my men to the ground. Falling to the ground

with only a few blows, the creatures couldn't compare

with such skilled soldiers. As my men cut down

any Lykosfosian that dare attack them,

I saw the opportunity to free

Theocydes and the others.

I ran

through the chaos and sliced through each rope

until at last, I came to Theocydes.

He was no doubt surprised to see me. I cut

loose his ropes and he attempted to stand.

Grimacing, he fell to his knees. I helped him to his feet

and he slung an arm over me. I felt a light trickle

of warm blood against my neck and immediately knew

that I could only move him slowly back towards the ship.

I needed to leave now. I motioned

to the other three victims to follow me

while I helped Theocydes along.

Theocydes limped beside me on the rough path. I yelled

to alert the men of coming danger

and called for them to get ready to board the ship.

Most of them moved but a few still slept on. I shouted

at the men still lying in the sand to awake them.

Seeing Theocydes, they quickly ran

to the boat to help him in. Once I had

almost reached the boat, the two men I had brought

to rescue the others came running back

with blood-spattered hands. Not far behind them,

packs of voracious Lykosfosians pursued them like wolves.

There was just enough time for Theocydes

to be hoisted into the vessel.

I quickly boarded the ship, grabbed the last two men's

hot bloody hands and swiftly helped them in.

Abruptly Lykosfosians began the climb

up the ladder, as my men hurriedly threw parcels

of our rations at the monsters to distract them.

This was successful and we were able

to take off from the shore but the loss of Circe's food

was unfortunate.

Then I saw

one last Lykosfosian grasping the side

of the boat in terror. It was none other

than their wretched leader. I looked down on him

and felt only disgust for this inhuman creature.

As Dawn's rosy red fingers shone once more,

I could finally see the beast's pleading gray eyes.

'You damn cannibal.' I whispered next to his ear.

With a hard swift kick to the knuckles,

he tumbled into the watery depths."


End file.
